Book Aid International

Book Aid International is dedicated to increasing access to books to support literacy, education and development across sub-Saharan Africa, in some of the poorest countries of the world.

Every year, we send around half a million brand new books to our partners, which are read over and over again by millions of readers. We work closely with the book and publishing trade in the UK who donates nearly all of the

We support libraries in schools, refugee camps, prisons, universities, communities and more. In most African countries people rely entirely on libraries to gain access to books and other reading materials. In all the countries where we work, more than half the population earns less than a dollar a day – making buying books a luxury few can afford. In many communities the library provides the single point of access to written information, and is used by young and old alike.

We work with local organisations working in development and human rights, which often lack the funds to get the books and information they need to operate effectively. In particular, we support projects that address the gender disparity in access to education – of the 151 million people who remain illiterate in sub-Saharan Africa, 62% are women.

Above all, Book Aid International knows that books change lives – a principle that has guided our work since 1954. We support our partners in other ways too, by providing grants to meet their needs on a case basis – for locally published books, training for librarians and other staff, or to develop and maintain work – and from keeping chickens to getting a degree in business studies, or learning about ways to protect against HIV/AIDS, the only limit is the number of books that we can send.